Personal Narrative: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia

Almost four years ago, getting out of bed started becoming close to impossible. I slowly stopped caring. Headaches haunted my days, following me around like a shadow, never disappearing. I didn’t want to do anything, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t bring myself to try anymore. A pain I cannot describe encased my heart, so tightly that I became numb to it. Almost four years ago, I was alone. Almost four years ago, I had to make a change. Almost four years ago, I was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). My personal experience was quite a complicated one. So many things happened that it’s hard for me to summarize everything in just a few paragraphs.
The Dysautonomia Information Network defines POTS as “excessive heart

At the time, to me, going back was even harder than dealing with POTS. I had never been “popular”, but this year, I was invisible. During my time out of school, I lost every friend I had. I was told it was because no one knew what to do or how to handle my new situation. People treated me like I was worthless, like I could never succeed. Some had even completely forgotten that I existed. So I kept my head down and took the classes I needed to become a cardiologist. I realized that I wasn’t living, I was merely existing. At that point, I was okay with it.
Then it happened again; I started feeling as empty as a shell. I was continually feeling the worst pain I’ve ever felt, yet at the same time, I felt nothing. The medicine stopped working, and I went back to homeschooling for the second time. This time was

Teachers act as the liaison among students, parents, and home school in an effort to help students remain current with their regular classes.” It sounds great in theory, but in actuality, the Home and Hospital teachers were just as bad as my high school teachers about the situation. I only have two “teachers” to teach me eight classes, and they weren’t even versed in some of the courses. I would have to contact my high school teachers and get work from them to give to my H&H teachers who then gave it to me to teach it to myself. The program is a good idea, but it was not carried through